The Jackson Pollock Studio and Web3 platform Iconic have released a collection of NFTs titled “Beyond the Edge: The Jackson Pollock Studio Collection”, which includes NFTs of four cropped sections from Jackson Pollock’s studio floor.

The abstract expressionist American painter Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) created huge works of art with the “drip technique”, which involved him laying canvases on the floor of his studio and pouring or splashing paint onto them. This is known as “action painting”, a term coined by critic Harold Rosenberg in 1952. As a result of this technique, Pollock’s studio floor became covered in paint drips and marks. The artist decided to preserve his studio floor in 1953, and it has since become one of the most important features of the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center at Stony Brook University. Art historians have been able to connect famous works of art by Pollock, such as Blue Poles (1952), Convergence (1952) and Number 3 (1950), to marks that have survived on the studio floor.

The Jackson Pollock Studio have previously licenced the image of the floor for various fashion and design collaborations. The NFTs have been regarded as an important step in preserving the floor for future generations and part of the money raised by their sale will go towards the Study Center to fund the ongoing care for the Pollock-Krasner House. Chris Cummings, the CEO of Iconic, said, “we really looked at this as an opportunity to bring the studio floor to life, to digitize the floor so that it would be preserved forever”. With reference to the preservation of the floor itself, Cummings added: “one unique thing about the studio is that the Study Center has made the decision to allow visitors to walk over the studio floor, which is of course an awesome experience. But that also ups the need for preservation to enable that experience.”

Helen Harrison, the Director of the Pollock-Krasner Study Center, added that, “our buildings are our collection. For a historic site, there’s constant maintenance, particularly with something as delicate as the floor, and there’s also a roof over it [which] needs to be replaced from time to time. And termites––you have to worry about them, too.” Harrison drew connections between Pollock’s work and NFTs, saying “people said Pollock’s work was not art. People said digital NFT art is not art. 21^st-century irony is alive and well.”

The NFTs sold out incredibly quickly and within hours over $100,000 was made with the total amount fetched three days later a remarkable $525,000. Given the recent decline in the NFT market, the Pollock NFTs are an interesting example of how the popularity for these works still remain.